Minnesota High Schools Either a “Golden Ticket” or “Dead End”

University of Minnesota report draws connections between school funding and post-secondary education enrollment

May 1, 2024

A report released by the University of Minnesota Law School in January 2024 provides new data on college attendance for Minnesota high school graduates. The findings of the report highlight the connection between property tax-based funding for local school districts and how academically successful their students are.

The report, “Pathways to Prosperity and Roads to Nowhere,” concludes some well-funded Minnesota high schools essentially offer a “golden ticket” to students, while schools around the Minneapolis area are unable to fully prepare students for opportunities after graduation due in large part to inadequate funding.

Researchers used publicly available data from the Minnesota Department of Education’s Statewide Longitudinal Education Data System (SLEDS) for the report. The SLEDS database provides information on test results, enrollment, and academic achievement by district and school.

The report ranked schools primarily by the percentage of a school’s graduates who enrolled in college immediately following graduation. The researchers discovered the top 30 Minnesota high schools send 66 percent of their graduating seniors to universities while the bottom 30 schools send just 12 percent. Also highlighted in the report is a correlation with the bottom 30 schools having a higher percentage of minority students.

The state-provided funding does not cover the costs of providing high quality education to Minnesota’s students leaving districts to rely on voter-approved levies and property taxes to balance their budgets. However, not all residents are happy to pay more taxes, which leads to a constant battle for funding forcing school boards to weigh several competing priorities when allocating scarce tax dollars.

Lower Property Values, Lower Tax Revenue, Less Funding for Schools

A key finding of the report illustrates how varying property values across communities translates to a disparity in funding for local school districts. Affluent areas benefit from higher property values, which channels increased financial resources into their local schools through property taxes.

Conversely, schools in economically disadvantaged communities struggle to secure adequate funding. A lack of financial resources leads to larger class sizes, fewer teachers, low staff salaries, and outdated facilities.

The state government currently contributes $7,138 in base funding per pupil according to the 2023-2024 education financing report published by the Minnesota House of Representatives. School districts rely on other sources of revenue such as property taxes and voter-approved referendums to complete their budgets.

Students Suffer When Districts are Forced to Make Cuts

Sydney Mohr teaches 7th grade literacy at McGuire Middle School in Lakeville. She says reductions were made to communications classes due to $7 million in cuts passed by Independent School District 194 in April 2023. Mohr says her middle school students struggle primarily with handwriting and basic English grammar rules.

Students at McGuire Middle School now receive one hour of traditional English classes, and the second period that was previously focused on literacy skills such as grammar and handwriting lasts only half the academic year. The second half of the year is then used for health classes.

The Minnesota Report Card website provides data on student proficiency in key areas such as math, reading, and science. According to the site, roughly 60 percent of McGuire Middle School students were proficient in reading in 2023 down from the pre-pandemic level of 70 percent in 2019.

Lakeville resident Amy Solinger volunteers with Unite for 194, an organization that advocates for additional school funding via voter-approved levies. Her children graduated from Lakeville schools in 2023. She saw firsthand how tight budgets and a lack of support for tax levies affected her children.

A failed tax levy in 2013 led to the closure of Crystal Lake Elementary in Lakeville. She said her son’s third through fifth grade class sizes had at least 35 students. Their elementary school was unable to offer music or art classes until a levy passed in 2015. She said her children were unable to take any world language courses in middle school as those weren’t added until a 2019 levy passed and by that time her children were in high school.

Schools Need More Funding to Address Budget Shortfalls

State lawmakers have increased funding to help school districts. During the 2023 session, the Minnesota Legislature passed an education bill that added $2.3 billion in additional spending for public schools.

Changes to the per-pupil formula, a system used to determine how much funding a district receives for each student, led to a nearly 7 percent increase to $7,138 per student for fiscal year 2024. The additional funding could be meaningful to school districts with low graduation rates and fewer students continuing to post-secondary education.

The University of Minnesota report ranked Wellstone International High, in the Minneapolis School District, in the bottom 10 high schools in the state. Between 2012 and 2021, only about a third of students were enrolled in college in the fall following graduation. During the same period, Edina High School, the number-one ranked school according to the report, sent approximately 88 percent of its students on to universities.

However, more spending per student doesn’t always translate to higher test scores or more students enrolling in college. In fiscal year 2022, Wellstone International High spent $28,519.86 per student with 80 percent of that amount coming from state and local funds. In the same year, only around 11 percent of students graduated, and more than 53 percent dropped out of school.

The story at Edina Senior High is quite different. In fiscal year 2022, the school spent less than half compared to Wellstone International High at $13,867.43 per student. The spending per student was nearly completely derived from state and local funds with only $402.81 per student coming from the federal government. The class of 2022 had a graduation rate of 91.6 percent.

How Minnesotans Can Support Local Students

There are several ways community members can get involved with their local school district to support students. Voting for local funding levies can provide much needed financial resources to schools.

Advocating for students at administration meetings can help ensure all priorities are needs are considered. Parents, guardians, family members, and neighbors can all support Minnesota’s K-12 students by contacting their state and federal representatives and calling for additional funding for school.

Teachers often buy classroom supplies with their salaries. Donating supplies and clothing to schools is a great way to create a direct and positive impact at your local school. Calling your school directly to ask what is in highest demand is a great way to get donation ideas.

MENTOR Minnesota supports more than 200 mentor programs across Minnesota. Big Brothers Big Sisters has branches across the state offering 1-on-1 and group mentoring programs at schools. A strong relationship with positive role models may help children stay in school and feel motivated to achieve the great things every Minnesota student is capable of.